I bought this dress back in January in Italy. It's from my fave Italian brand, Rinascimento. I was SUPER lucky to pick it up during the winter sale and I seem to remember it was 50% and it came to about €40. Unfortunately you can't appreciate all the detail in the photo but it was very dark outside and this is the best I could do that evening, sowwy.You can't see the shoes but I was wearing these . I thought it was a nice contrast with the dress.I have to be honest when I bought this dress I had NO idea it would attract the attention it did; at one point during the evening I kind of almost regretted it. I am seriously not used to much attention and/or compliment.

Ash-Lilly's Lacquer LustThis blog is just pure nail art porn!!!!! I get loads of ideas from her and I love to drool over photos of nail art I could never do myself. If you like your nail polishes, this is your one stop blog.Behind Green EyesI love Shanna, she's crackers and she gets my dirty humour without judging me. I love reading her blog because I love the way she writes, her way of writing is everything mine isn't. She has a variety of posts and I absolutely LOVE her sarcasm. For a more varied reading, she's your girl!Big FashionistaKellie is a proper top blogger and a proper top woman. Her posts always bring up interesting topics and discussions and her writing style is superb. She was the first big blogger not to look down on me and even host me on her blog. (You can read my guest post here )Chic Beauty BlogI have to be honest, I read/follow the stunning Stina and her blog mainly because I LOVE to look at photos of her and her style. She is physically what I would KILL to be and she embodies the "I moved abroad for x reason and I'm gonna make it, no matter what!" situation I aspire to. I LOVE her FOTDs, OOTDs and NOTDs. Check her out, for pure perfection.

Le petit jardin de LilooI LOVE Liloo from the most inner bottom of my heart! She is just the most adorable person ever, she gave me a lot of advice blogging and beauty wise and she'll never look down on you. Her NOTDs are just impeccable and her eye looks are just super colourful, cheerful and flawless.

Setanta ArtThis is simply an outlet for my very good and seriously talented friend Mike. Posts show some of the variety of his amazeballsness (yes, I did just use that word!). I personally think his talent is wasted on his hideous job! He will also do drawings by request if you send him photos. (plug plug, Mike you owe me a drink!).

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I have been colouring my hair of (almost) all different colours in the rainbow since I was 17. And although I have been settling with different shades of blonds lately, and put the purples and oranges aside, I still require protecting the dreaded fade effect.More so because colour has no natural pigment to hang on to and will tend to fade a lot faster than on normal hair, never mind if I use very subtle golden blonds.For the most part of 10 years my choice has been L'Oréal Elvive Colour Protect, the beloved red bottle! I have to be honest and admit that I might very possibly be emotionally attached to this product. Please don't judge me!I have had some majorly amazing sets of colours on my head in the past and the red bottle has always helped keeping them all alive(I might actually do a post with a little gallery of some of my past colours).

However since moving to Ireland I have grown a lover of a few products from TRESemmé, including their extra hold hair spray(the fuchsia can) that withstands Irish string winds.So a couple of months ago I took advantage of a promotion in Boots and picked up their colour protect conditioner, I thought that maybe sometimes it's good to try new things, right?

So here's my comparison of the 2.

Scent:I REALLY like them both, but T has a slight advantage and it lingers on my hair even 2 days after washing it which is a bonus.

Application:Both very good to apply and work with. However T is an absolute nightmare to rinse off!!! takes me ages to completely wash off. L also gets rid of knots a lot better, combing my hair through after towel drying is a lot smoother with L.

Results:As far as colour protecting properties they honestly both seem to do the same thing. However T leaves my hair slightly softer than L, although hair is not as smooth to blow dry.

So in my experience Elvive is generally better, where as Tresemme is slightly better on some points.My verdict? I will generally stick to L'Oreal but won't mind a bit of Tresemme with a good offer or deal.